Let Me Explain
by UnpredictablyRandomOne
Summary: Merlin has been found guilty of using magic and is sentenced to burn at the stake...or was it by sword? Merlin isn't sure what's real anymore but nobody is giving him a chance to explain! OneShot Rated T for safety


I've been a fan of Merlin for about a year now and have just decided to try writing something. Please let me know what I can improve on through a review, I want to improve, not stay the same. Oh, and let me know if you liked it as well. Thank you!

Please read the **_WHOLE THING_ **before deciding whether you like it or not. You'll understand what I mean afterwards. *happy face*

Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin and am not making any money from this.

* * *

Merlin woke to the small whispers around him, not sure of what was going on. The last thing he could remember was that he'd been traveling with Arthur and the knights, chasing the sorceress, Fieeta. They'd followed her deep into the forest where she'd set up an ambush. Men had jumped out from behind bushes and trees, attacking them with swords and very sharp weapons. He remembers telling Arthur, _'I told you it was a trap.' _Then the men began fighting with the knights and Arthur but Fieeta had simply walked away. Merlin, knowing she was too dangerous to let go, had followed and fought with her.

Fieeta had been powerful, much more than Morgana could ever hope to be but not stronger than him. Although, it had taken a lot of his energy and magic, he'd beat her with a solid blast after what had felt like hours. His legs had given away and he'd dropped to the ground, that was when he'd realized Arthur had seen him use magic. Merlin had always wondered how Arthur would find out, during the heat of a massive battle, saving his life from hundreds of armed men or his favorite, finally being pushed to his limit and using it on Arthur himself. But this, this wasn't the best way. Arthur had seen him use magic and Merlin had just shrugged and muttered a pathetic, _"Let me explain."_ before passing out.

He quickly sat up, wanting to find Arthur and explain everything but froze when his head began to throb, feeling as if he'd been thrown against a wall. Taking a deep breath, he realized he was in a cell. He'd been sent to the dungeon.

"You're finally awake." Merlin looked up at the voice and for the first time, felt scared of his friend. Arthur looked angry, betrayed and clearly not wanting to be here but there he stood, looking at Merlin as if he was some criminal. Well, technically he _had_ broken the law but not on purpose. Sort of. The point being, Merlin couldn't help whom he was, he couldn't just stop being a warlock.

"Arthur, let me explain." Merlin walked over to where Arthur wearily stood, surely he wasn't afraid, he'd known Merlin for over ten years; Arthur should know he'd never hurt him.

"I don't want to hear it, you can save your reasons for using magic at your trial." Merlin couldn't believe what he was hearing, trial? "You'll be tried for your crimes tomorrow morning, if found guilty, you'll be burnt at the stake soon after."

"But Arthur, I-"

"All I want to know is why you haven't killed me. After all these years, why haven't you done what you obviously set out to do?" Merlin searched Arthur's face for any sign of leniency, any sign of the Arthur that would forgive and accept him for whom he is but couldn't find any. Sighing, he looked at his king, feeling resigned to his fate.

"I'd never hurt you, Arthur. I dedicated my life to keeping you safe, to keep you alive to fulfill your destiny. How can you think I'd want to kill you after saving your life so many times?"

Arthur shook his head in disgust. "I don't know why I bothered, as if a _sorcerer_ could tell the truth."

"But I am telling the truth! You're my king but I also thought you a friend, I thought _we_ were friends."

"You're a servant!" Arthur exclaimed before calming down. "A lousy one but still a servant. Well, you _were_ a servant, obviously you're nothing but an evil sorcerer." Arthur shook his head once more before glaring at Merlin. "I'll see you tomorrow morning." And with that, he was gone. Leaving Merlin alone with his thoughts, to ponder how tomorrow, he'd surely be burnt at the stake for something he had no say in.

The following day at noon, Merlin was found tied at the stake, wood surrounding him as he waited for the king to give the command while the people looked at him with fear, mistrust and some with pity. His trial had gone just as he'd feared. He'd tried to explain to the court how he'd been born with magic, how he'd only used it for the good of the king and Camelot but nobody seemed to care. Aside from Gaius and Gwaine, nobody else had spoken in his defense. The worst part was that people had thought he'd cast a _spell_ on them to speak up.

Merlin looked up at where Arthur sat, an obviously distraught Gwen by his side. Merlin offered her a small smile, letting her know he didn't blame her for not speaking up at his trial or for what was about to happen. He didn't even blame Arthur, he was just doing what he thought best for his kingdom. Merlin knew that somewhere deep down, this was killing Arthur. He was just glad Gwaine had done as he'd asked and made sure Gaius wasn't here to witness his death.

"Let this be a lesson to all, magic is forbidden! All who are found to be involved with magic will suffer the same fate as this sorcerer!" Merlin closed his eyes at Arthur's words, so much for dying inside. If he wanted to, he could easily get free, Gaius had told him as much but a life without his friends, without Gaius or Camelot just wasn't one he wanted. He opened his eyes when the smell of burning wood reached him, the flames getting bigger and bigger before him. Merlin began to shake from fear, this was how he was going to die. The flames soon reached his feet, making him cry out in pain before everything went black.

* * *

Merlin gasped, quickly sitting up. His heart was beating so fast, he feared it would literally burst out of his chest. Taking a few deep breaths, he realized he was in the forest along with the knights and Arthur not too far away, sleeping in his own bed roll. They were heading home after saving a village from some crazed criminals, he'd been dreaming. He shook his head, feeling a slight ache but ignored it. Had it all really been a dream? The crackling of the fire sent a shiver down his spine, it had felt so real. He took another deep breath, glad _none_ of it had been real.

"What _are_ you doing?" Merlin flinched at the voice and turned to face Arthur who was giving him an annoyed look. "I'm trying to sleep, think you can keep your breathing to a minimum, wouldn't want to attract another wild animal... _Are you ill_? If you are, stay far away from me, I don't want to catch whatever it is you have. I'd hate looking as terrible as you."

Merlin laughed, feeling much better now that he knew he'd just had a terrible nightmare. His secret was safe, nobody wanted to burn him at the stake and everything was back to normal. It had just been a horrible, horrible dream.

"And what, may I ask, is so funny?" Arthur asked still annoyed, sitting up as well.

"I had a dream that you were going to kill me, now that I'm awake I can see how silly that was. As if you could ever kill me."

"If you don't let me go back to sleep, I _might_ just make that dream come true." The king muttered, stretching his arms over his head. "I know there are many reasons as to why I'd do it but why was I going to kill you _this_ time?"

"Not just kill me, burn me at the stake." Merlin said with a laugh. "You finally found out I had magic and-" Merlin paled, was he really that stupid?

"I'm sorry, what?" Arthur asked standing up. "You have what?" He shouted before grabbing his sword from the ground. Merlin stood up when the knights woke up at hearing their distressed king, also arming themselves.

"What's happened? Are we under attack?" Gwaine asked, looking around their campsite.

"He's a sorcerer! Merlin just confessed to having magic!" Merlin looked at the faces of the knights, the men he'd come to consider his friends looked at him with disgust and betrayal. He raised his hands in obvious surrender, taking a step back.

"It's not what you think, if you'll just let me explain-" He stopped talking when he tripped and fell back, hitting his head on a rock.

* * *

"Merlin, wake up." Merlin shot up, trying to get away from whomever was shaking him. "Calm down, you idiot! What's wrong with you?" Arthur. That was Arthur calling him an idiot. Arthur! He'd been pointing a sword at him, he'd found out about his magic and wanted to kill him!

"Arthur, let me explain before you kill me, I swear I wasn't going to hurt you." Merlin stumbled but someone grabbed his arm, keeping him steady. He tried to pull away but Gwaine kept his hold on him.

"And where do you think you're running off to with that bump on your head?"

"I'm not running away, I just want to explain what happened. Why won't anybody let me explain?!" Merlin shouted, obviously frustrated that nobody seemed to give him a chance to explain himself. Arthur nodded at Gwaine, telling him to release Merlin.

"I think we all know what happened, we were there when you defeated Fieeta. But if you think we've missed something, sit down and let us know." Arthur instructed in a calm voice, making Merlin wonder how he could be so calm after finding out he had magic. Doing as he was told, Merlin sat back down, feeling nervous at how the knights stood in front of him, more than likely to chase him if he decided to make a run for it.

"I wanted to explain about, well, about my magic." Merlin mumbled, not wanting to look at the betrayed expressions his friends surely had.

"What about it?" Arthur asked. Merlin looked up, how could Arthur sound so bloody calm?

"What about it? What do you mean what about it? Don't you want to kill me for having magic?" He watched as the group looked at each other with confusion before looking back at him with concern.

"Are we really having this conversation, again? I thought we'd cleared this two years ago." Merlin felt his jaw drop, two years ago?

"Perhaps we should hurry and take him to Gaius to get his head examined, he might have hit himself harder than we thought." Leon stated, the others nodding in agreement.

"I told you it was serious but nobody ever listens to me!" Gwaine added, ignoring the eye roll from the others.

"There was no bleeding and the swelling went down soon after. He wasn't even unconscious that long, he should have been fine."

Merlin felt like everything was spinning, they were worried about his head? What about his magic? Was he going to be tried or just executed? And _why_ were they talking about him as if he wasn't here? He looked up when someone put their hand on his shoulder, making him look up at Arthur.

"We know about your magic, we've known for almost two years." Merlin shook his head, wincing from the movement.

"What? But when, how, why didn't you tell me you knew?"

"Because you're the one that told us, Merlin. Don't you remember?" Percival asked from behind Arthur, looking concerned.

"I told you?" He glared at Percival. "Obviously I don't remember, why else would I be worried about being burnt at the stake?!" Arthur gently smacked his head, probably not the best thing for a head injury but Merlin just glared in return.

"You told us two years ago, quite on accident by the way." Arthur sat down on the ground. "We had stopped for the night on the way back home from some place or another and you'd just started tossing and turning. Obviously having a nightmare, mumbling about how we were trying to kill you for having magic. We tried waking you up but you kept apologizing for not telling us sooner."

"If we hadn't been so shocked we probably would have laughed at how silly you looked." Gwaine interrupted Arthur, earning a disapproving glare from Elyan.

"As I was saying, you kept apologizing and when you finally woke up, your eyes were a gold color and you threw Elyan into a tree." Merlin winced at the memory, now making its way back. He offered an apologetic smile at Elyan who just shrugged.

"You then proceeded to tell us your life story and after Arthur beat you up a little, we forgave you for not telling us." Arthur glared at Gwaine who just grinned back. "Well, it's the truth, isn't it princess?"

"The point is, we got over it two years ago." Merlin nodded in understanding, his memory fully returning. Sighing, he carefully rubbed his sore head.

"And magic was welcomed back a year ago, I remember now."

"Hell, Merlin, I don't know how you ever thought we'd kill you for this. You really are an idiot." Arthur muttered standing up. "Now, if you're feeling better, I'd really like to get home to my wife before something else happens."

Merlin smiled, taking the hand that his friend offered and stood up. "I don't think I ever thanked you for forgiving me." Merlin could see through the corner of his eye as the knights walked away, giving them a moment of privacy.

"You didn't have to." Arthur awkwardly said, not really enjoying the conversation. "And I figured saving my life so many times was punishment enough." Merlin grinned, knowing the last two years had been the best of his life. Not having to hide who he truly was felt quite good.

"You're right, it is quite a hassle." Arthur playfully punched Merlin's shoulder before heading back to his horse. "One that I wouldn't trade for anything." He whispered the last part.

"I wouldn't trade you, either." Merlin felt embarrassed but then realized Arthur had just called him a hassle.

"Well, excuse me, _Sire_..." He complained as he followed Arthur, relieved none of the other scenarios had been close to ever happening. Even though they'd never admit it out loud, Arthur and Merlin would always have each other's back, not even magic could break their bond.

* * *

And there you have it. It might be a bit ooc but I hope I did at least fairly well. Let me know, please? Thank you so much for reading this and I hope to bring you more Merlin fics in the near future.


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